The early history of the Mormon Church from its founding by Joseph Smith in Western New York in 1830 is a tale of persecution and flight. The Mormons moved first to Ohio in search of peace, but there, in 1832 and 1833, they were tarred and feathered, beaten and shot, and their homes were destroyed. They moved again in 1838, this time to Missouri, but soon they were attacked once again. The governor of Missouri declared that “the Mormons must be treated as enemies and must be exterminated or driven from the state, if necessary, for the public good.” On October 30, 1838, a mob led by three state militia captains fell upon a small colony of Mormons at Haun’s Mill and killed or wounded most of them.
The Mormons next fled to Carthage, Illinois, but there persecution continued. On June 27, 1844, after Smith had imperiously ordered the Mormons to destroy a local newspaper which criticized him, Smith and his brother were jailed on the charge of inciting a riot. There they were killed by a mob. Afterwards, Mormons took their last long trek to Utah under the leadership of Brigham Young.
The following account of the Haun’s Mill massacre, written by Joseph Young, Brigham Young’s elder brother, is taken from John P. Greene: Facts Relative to the Expulsion of the Mormons or Latter Day Saints, from the State of Missouri under the “Exterminating Order” (1939). See Fawn Brodie: No Man Knows My History (1945).
It was about 4 o’clock, while sitting in my cabin with my babe in my arms, and my wife standing by my side, the door being open, I cast my eyes on the opposite bank of Shoal-creek, and saw a large company of armed men, on horses, directing their course towards the mills with all possible speed. As they advanced through the scattering trees that stood on the edge of the prairie, they seemed to form themselves into a three-square position, forming a van-guard in front. At this moment, David Evans, seeing the superiority of their numbers, (there being 240 of them, according to their own account,) swung his hat, and cried for peace. This not being heeded, they continued to advance, and their leader, Mr. Cornstock, fired a gun, which was followed by a solemn pause of ten or twelve seconds, when, all at once, they discharged about 100 rifles, aiming at a blacksmith shop into which our friends had fled for safety; and charging up to the shop, the cracks of which between the logs were sufficiently large to enable them to aim directly at the bodies of those who had there fled for refuge from the fire of their murderers. There were several families tented in rear of the shop, whose lives were exposed, and amidst a shower of bullets fled to the woods in different directions.
After standing and gazing on this bloody scene for a few minutes, and finding myself in the uttermost danger, the bullets having reached the house where I was living, I committed my family to the protection of Heaven, and leaving the house on the opposite side, I took a path which led up the hill, following the trail of three of my brethren that had fled from the shop. While ascending the hill we were discovered by the mob, who immediately fired at us, and continued to do so till we reached the summit. In descending the hill I secreted myself in a thicket of bushes where I lay till eight o’clock in the evening, at which time I heard a female voice calling my name in an undertone, telling me that the mob had gone, and there was no danger. I immediately left the thicket, and went to the house of Benjamin Lewis, where I found my family, (who had fled there,) in safety, and two of my friends, mortally wounded, one of whom died before morning.
Here we passed the painful night in deep and awful reflections on the scenes of the preceding evening. After day-light appeared, some four or five men, with myself, who had escaped with our lives from the horrid massacre, repaired as soon as possible to the mills, to learn the condition of our friends, whose fate we had but too truly anticipated.
When we arrived at the house of Mr. Honn, we found Mr. Merrick’s body lying in rear of the house; —Mr. McBride’s in front, literally mangled from head to foot. We were informed by Miss Rebecca Judd, who was an eye witness, that he was shot with his own gun, after he had given it up, and then cut to pieces with a corn cutter, by a Mr. Rogers, of Davies county, who keeps a ferry on Grand River, and who has since repeatedly boasted of this act of savage barbarity. Mr. York’s body we found in the house, and after viewing these corpses, we immediately went to the blacksmith shop, where we found nine of our friends, eight of whom were already dead; the other, Mr. Cox, of Indiana, struggling in the agonies of death, who expired. We immediately prepared and carried them to the place of interment. This last office of kindness due to the relics of departed friends, was not attended with the customary ceremonies, nor decency, for we were in jeopardy, every moment expecting to be fired upon by the mob, who, we supposed, were lying in ambush, waiting for the first opportunity to despatch the remaining few who were providentially preserved from the slaughter of the preceding day. However, we accomplished, without molestation, this painful task. The place of burying was a vault in the ground, formerly intended for a well, into which we threw the bodies of our friends promiscuously.
Among those slain I will mention Sardius Smith, son of Warren Smith, about 9 years old, who, through fear, had crawled under the bellows in the shop, where he remained till the massacre was over, when he was discovered by a Mr. Glaze of Carroll county, who presented his rifle near the boy’s head and literally blowed off the upper part of it. Mr. Stanley of Carroll told me afterwards that Glaze boasted of this fiendlike murder and heroic deed all over the country.
The number killed and mortally wounded in this wanton slaughter was 18 or 19.…
To finish their work of destruction this band of murderers composed of men from Davies, Livingston, Ray, Carroll and Chariton counties, led by some of the principal men of that section of the upper country … proceeded to rob houses, wagons and tents, of bedding and clothing, drove off horses and wagons, leaving widows and orphans destitute of the necessaries of life, and even stripped the clothing from the bodies of the slain!